A Chat With Simon
by worrywart
Summary: When Severus Snape was a spy, he was used to being up in the early hours of the morning and that usually meant no good.  Now with the war over, he is again up in the early hours, but for a much more enjoyable reason.


Long time reader, first time publisher.

I do not own any of J.K. Rowlings works or characters no matter how many dreams I have that I do!

Severus may be a bit OOC in this, but not much.

Severus Snape was used to being up into the early morning of the hours. As a Hogwarts professor and former death eater, he had often filled his nights with restless pacing or kneeling at the feet of his 'master'. He had hoped that his own death would mean the end to all of that. But he had survived. So in the first year after the battle, as he worked through his recovery, he maintained his routine of restless pacing in the wee hours, but he was able to sleep a bit more without the worry of a painful summons to interrupt what little sleep he did get.

The lack of sleep now was for a different reason; an infinitely more enjoyable reason. It was March, four years after the final battle and Severus was awake at 230 a.m. He was in his spare bedroom sitting against the headboard on the extra bed. He wore a t-shirt, black of course, sweat pants, black of course, and socks, white (he learned early on that black socks and prolonged wear of his dragon hide boots were a lethal combination). His knees were drawn up to his chest. If you looked at his lap closely, you could see why his knees were drawn up. A tiny baby, just two months old, was propped against them. Black eyes gazed upon black eyes. Simon Tobias Snape's small hands still moved a bit uncoordinatedly about his face, sometimes running into the thatch of black hair he inherited from his father. Severus's own hair was longer than it had been, falling well below his shoulder blades now. During the day, he wore it pulled back with a tie, but in the middle of the night, it hung down unfettered. Severus ran his hand over the top of Simon's head to smooth his hair down. He then reached his fingers towards the tiny hands to pull them away the tiny face. When indescribably small fingers latched themselves around longer pale ones, Severus was amazed by their strength. He marveled at each wrinkled knuckle and each small fragile fingernail.

Severus was still overwhelmed by this tiny creature that had come into his life. To think that just four years ago he hoped he would be dead. Now he was looking at himself in miniature form; something he never thought he would ever do. A wife, let alone a child, was never in his life's picture as he lived it four years ago. He ran a long finger down Simon's cheek, the infant turning toward the feeling with its natural rooting instinct. "Sorry little fellow, it's not mum's breast or the bottle, just your dad's finger," Severus whispered softly. He wrapped his long fingered hands around Simon's tiny trunk and pulled the mite toward him and pressed his lips against the boy's forehead. With his rather prodigious nose Severus inhaled his son's scent, thanking the creators that Simon inherited his mother's nose. Settling him back down against his knees, Severus spoke again, softly. "Perhaps tomorrow I should do as your mum asks, and get this bed out of here so we can finish up your room. But we weren't expecting you so soon. You weren't supposed to come when you did, you know. Your mum had an accident; she fell down the stairs and well, she was very badly hurt and so it was decided that you needed to be born just a bit sooner than we expected. Your mummy is fine now, don't you worry. Have I told you how much I love your mum?"

Simon looked about his small world with a tiny scowl on his face, but each time Severus spoke, his baritone rumble through his chest and into Simon caused the baby to turn toward the noise. He yawned a perfect little round yawn. Severus smiled. A real smile that went to his eyes. "Yes", he said. "Your mummy loves you, too. And for some unfathomable reason, she loves me. Shall I tell you how your mum and I met?" Simon made a little noise in his nappy and Severus laughed. "Don't know if that was a yes, but I hope you feel better now". Simon scrunched up his legs inside his little sleeper and Severus enjoyed feeling the weight of his little body as it squirmed against his legs.

Severus pulled a blanket off a chair next to the bed and covered Simon with it. "Well, I will tell you. I met your mum 11 years ago when she first came to Hogwarts. She was a tiny, bushy-haired know-it-all and she was insufferable. Your mum was constantly raising her hand and spouting her knowledge. I disliked her quite a bit. But then, I had a lot on my mind then and couldn't be bothered with a little girl anyway. No, I had to watch over her dunderheaded little friend, Potter." Severus sneered at this. Although a tacit truce was held between Harry and Severus now, he still would rather Potter remained as far away as possible. But Hermione insisted Harry be godfather to Simon and so Severus put up with him. It was the least he could do for his Hermione.

Tucking the blanket about Simon a little more, Severus continued his story. "Mum got into quite a bit of trouble with her friends. When she was 17 she ran away with Potter and Weasley to find the horcruxes to save the wizarding world. That year was nearly my undoing. I had to try to keep one step ahead of them to make sure nothing happened to them. I knew mum really didn't like me then. I had done some rotten, unforgiveable things, you see." Simon stared at Severus, still with a scowl. "Eventually, there was a big battle. Your mum and her friends found me in the Shrieking Shack where I had been attacked. They thought I was dying, and I had hoped I would. They left me, but your mum came back after a couple of hours. She found everything she needed to save my life in my pockets. Then she took me to the hospital. When I was able to leave the hospital, I came back here. Nowhere else to go, really. After a year of time to heal, your grandma Minerva asked me to teach again and she let me pick whether I wanted to teach potions again or DADA. I chose DADA, but I had to train someone as well to teach potions. I didn't know who grandma Minerva picked until the day she showed up. It was your mum!

I was very mad at first. I had never liked her. I thought she was a still a know-it-all and I didn't think she could do it. But I couldn't help but notice that the war had changed mummy. She was quieter and not so eager to show herself off. As well, I had noticed how much mum had grown. She was very tall now and very good looking. She was very thin and had a nice pair of bre…well, she looked nice all over." Severus couldn't believe he nearly told his son what he nearly told him. But he was so caught up in memories right now. Did having a child make turn you into a babbling idiot?

"I learned that your mum was really smart, not just a know-it-all. She learned very fast and she helped me brew the potions the hospital wing needed as part of her training. We spent many hours together and we learned to be friends. I think your mum really helped me too. I learned from her that it is okay to have 'fun' (he said that with a sneer), and it is okay to trust people, to care for them. I learned that people close to you will hurt you but never intentionally. Most of all, my little boy, I learned that it was okay to forgive myself. Your mummy taught me that. She gave me many gifts, Simon, and not the material kind. After about eight months or so, I asked your mum if she would like to go to dinner with me. At that dinner, I told her that I cared for her and hoped that she might care for me as well. Well, since you are here, I guess you can figure out what her answer was."

Severus noticed Simon was asleep now. He picked him up and again brought him close to his lips. "You are the best gift she ever gave me, beside her love, " he whispered in the baby's ear. He placed the baby in his crib covering him with the blanket. Severus placed his hand on the back of Simon's head to feel its roundness against his palm; Simon's head did not even fill his palm. He stepped into his own bedroom and stood at the foot of the bed. Hermione was asleep on her back. He knew she was healed from her fall now, but those couple of weeks were quite scary for him. He was thrust into fatherhood sooner than he expected and between juggling teaching, the baby, and caring for Hermione he had been overwhelmed. Hermione survived and healed. He could not have borne it if he had lost her. He climbed into bed.

"Severus?" Hermione mumbled.

"Yes, love?" he answered as he pulled her closer to him.

"Is the baby alright?"

"Yes. He is fed and changed and sleeping soundly."

"What took so long, then?"

"He and I were having a little chat"

Hermione was a little more alert now and turned toward Severus. "What do you mean, little chat? You didn't use legilimency on him did you?"

"Of course not," Severus chuckled. "I was sitting there with him and I was just looking at him." Severus choked up a bit. "Hermione, he is just so perfect. I can hardly believe he is my son and that you gave him to me. "

"I would say thank you for giving him to _me_." began Hermione. Severus put a finger to her lips.

"Shh and let me finish. You have gifted me with so many things Hermione I am unsure that I could ever begin to be worthy of them. You are the reason I get up every day, breath every day, live every day. I never thought I could have this life…..a woman who loves me and has given me a son." Hermione began to cry and Severus pulled her closer to him. "Promise you will help me be worthy of you and Simon and will help me love you both."

"Severus, of course. My heart and soul are yours." Hermione leaned up to catch Severus' lips to kiss him. She placed a hand on the side of his face to caress his cheek. He began to rub her back and soon, the kiss took on a life of its own. "Please, love me now" she breathily whispered in his ear.

"Are you sure?" Do you think you're healed enough?"

"Yes. Poppy said this morning everything is fine".

"I love you, Hermione" were the last words said for a long time that early morning.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading 'A Chat With Simon' and I hope you enjoyed it. This story has nothing to do with Emerald Days 'The Things We Inherit'. We came up with the story and published it around the same time. We did not copy the other or intend to sue the other for it.

Thank you Emerald Days for giving me the courage to finally publish! Read her works, they are tasty!


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